Honeywell Thermostat Waiting for Equipment Message, How to Clear on the RTH9580WF Smart Thermostat

Honeywell thermostat waiting for equipment messages sometimes appear on Honeywell smart t-stats, like the Honeywell RTH9580WF in this example. These messages can show up when the t-stat has just turned off the HVAC . But then, sudden temp changes call for HVAC to come back on right away. These changes happen due to…

Someone changing the set temp on the thermostat.

The room temp changing a lot because someone opens a door or window.

This Waiting for Equipment message shows, the t-stat will not turn on the the AC / furnace until it goes away.

So why do they have this message? It’s to protect your HVAC. A compressor in the compressor in these systems can lock up and burn out if started too quickly after shutdown. So, Honeywell builds this delay into its t-stats. This safeguards the HVAC from burnout due to too-rapid off-on shifts.

To prevent “vapor lock” in the HVAC, it’s best not to start them up again right after they shut off. Waiting a time allows the pressures between the tail input and head output of the compressor to equalize.

If you start up the HVAC before this happens, its motor cannot turn easily. It sees heavy push-back when moving the pistons that move the Freon around inside. Sometimes, it cannot turn the pistons at all. We refer to this stoppage as the motor “locking up”. Motor lock-up makes excess heat in the motor windings. So if done too many times in too short a time, this motor can burn up. The compressor then shorts out. Costly to repair if shorting occurs.

How to Clear Honeywell Thermostat Waiting for Equipment Message

So, for max protection for your HVAC, Honeywell gives no way to clear the Waiting for Equipment message. Indeed booting the t-stat does not clear it either. What happens is that each time the HVAC turns off, a count-down timer starts. Then, the HVAC does not come on again until this timer runs out — around three to five minutes.

In our tests, the only way to get past this message is to simply wait it out. We waited five minutes on our RTH9580WF t-stat to clear it and power up our HVAC once more. Then the message shortly went away. And finally,k our t-stat again turned on our system. It then showed its Cool On message — not flashing, but solid ON. Shown in the next picture.